At a glance

In the present-day competitive environment of supply chain management, a company's success depends to a great extent on the timely and error-free delivery of orders, a requirement that cannot be met by conventional order picking systems and batch processes.
Companies that are able to fill orders quickly, without errors, and at a low cost, so as to meet the constantly increasing demands of their customers, acquire a significant competitive advantage in their sector.
The assignment of the correct level of automation at a distribution centre requires a clear understanding and definition of company activities; the features of the products handled; the frequency and size of orders filled; the working environment within the warehouse; and the direct labour cost in the warehouse.
The new technology system aberon BY-LIGHT from VELTIONoptimum functions by incorporating leading technologies such as Radio Frequency (RF) wireless communications, microcomputers, microelectronics, barcode technology, and software engineering, into a single efficient and integrated system.
The aberon BY-LIGHT technology processes the data from the orders to be filled and transfers it to the picking zones without needing to use picking or checking lists. The pickers, with both hands free, pick the orders, eliminating pointless and time-consuming procedures such as list reading, picking location search, and list checking.
The aberon BY-LIGHT technology does away with the need for pickers to read picking lists and make data entries in the system. All aberon BY-LIGHT features vastly reduce the time needed to fill orders and decrease drastically the number of picking errors.
The outcome is a solution whose performance can compete with that of a fully automated, high-investment facility. The main difference however, is installation costs are only a fraction of the cost of a high automated solution.
Each aberon BY-LIGHT system is tailor-made to meet the needs of every customer by recording and analyzing the needs of each company. aberon BY-LIGHT allows you to remain competitive in your market by using state of the art technology.

Facts
Product Structure – ABC Analysis
It is fair to say that all products sold by a company do not move at the same speed. On the one hand, there are the fast-moving SKUs with high circulation and on the other, the slow-moving SKUs that handle very small quantities of products.
According to the market sector in which a company is active (industry, wholesale, retail), there are various curves that define the proportions between fast-moving and slow-moving products. In general, for a typical company we can assume the relationship between fast-moving and slow-moving products is that shown on the table:
By observing the diagram we see that:
• 1 % of SKUs cover 25% of the total movement
• 5% of SKUs cover 50% of the total movement
• 20% SKUs cover 80% of the total movement

Based on the fact that all products do not move at the same speed, different methods of picking orders for each category of products can be implemented.
With the aberon BY-LIGHT picking technology we can efficiently pick any category of products, whether they are fast-moving or slow-moving.
Analysis of Order Picking Time
The total time spent by the employee during the picking process using conventional order picking systems can be analyzed as:
• Picking Lists management 10%
• Picking errors Correction 8%
• Touching and Picking 16%
• Packaging 3%
• Order Checking 13%
• Travelling 40%
• Other 10%
With aberon BY-LIGHT Picking, List management time, error correction time, order checking time, and finally the touching and picking time, are drastically reduced or eliminated.
Picking Errors
Analysis of Order Picking Errors
The errors observed during preparation of orders with conventional order picking systems can be analyzed as:
• Counting (quantity) errors 2%
• Reading Picking List errors 23%
• Wrong Location errors 30%
• Omission of order line errors 45%
With aberon BY-LIGHT all the errors occurring with a conventional order picking (picking list) system are practically eliminated.
[tab title="Systems"]
aberon BY-LIGHT systems
aberon BY-LIGHT is composed of two different systems, that are based on microelectronic, RF technology and software engineering.
• aberon PICK BY LIGHT
• aberon PICK CART
The two systems in the aberon BY-LIGHT family increase productivity by up to three times and reduce order picking errors by up to 95%, while the payback period on the investment does not exceed the 12 months.
The proposed implementation range of the picking methods (RF picking, pick by light, pick cart) for a company's products can be seen on the diagram below:

PICK-BY LIGHT
aberon PICK-BY-LIGHT
Pick-by-Light is a lightning fast warehouse automation technique that makes order picking many times more efficient. With the light picking principle, you can let the process run paperless, which increases reliability while reduces picking errors.
The aberon PICK-BY-LIGHT system is used to pick the company's fast-moving SKUs. This is generally 5% to 30% of a company's SKUs. In the event that the product range is small, aberon PICK-BY-LIGHT can be applied to the entire range of products.
The aberon PICK-BY-LIGHT system is composed of microcomputers (tags) that are smaller than a bar of chocolate. These microcomputers are installed at the picking locations of the company's fast-moving products.
These tags have an indicator light, an illuminated digital display, as well as control keys for the picker. There are more than 30 different tags in the product range to cover any specific customer need. They communicate in real-time with the company's information system (WMS, ERP, legacy system).

When an order is forwarded for picking, the tags are activated and the tags installed at the picking locations light up, indicating the quantities that must be picked for each SKU in the order.
The current order ID appears on the order display tag. The picker sees the lights at the picking locations as well as the quantity to be picked from each SKU.
The picker goes to the locations with the lights on and picks the quantity, pressing the confirmation button at each location.
In the event of a shortage at the picking location, the operator can decrease the quantity by pressing the function button on the tag.
The tag turns off at each picking location where collection has been completed. When the last orderline on the order has been completed, a light on the completion tag accompanied by an audible buzz informs the operator that the order is complete. The next order is then forwarded to be filled and the pick by light process continues for all orders.
For a large number of fast-moving SKUs, the picking area is divided into sectors, which are each served by one picker. In such a case, the picker in one sector fills the part of the order concerning SKUs in his sector and he then forwards the order to the next sector, which is served by another picker. The process continues until the order has passed through all the picking sectors in the aberon Pick-BY-LIGHT system.